Bridgestone Relies on CTG to Implement CRM Online

“SalesBridge brings us to the next level of professional interaction with our customers. It provides our Salesforce with a 360 degree view on customer information, and will help us in gathering more market intelligence with a higher granularity.” ~ Carlos Otero, Business Owner, Bridgestone Europe

Our Client

Bridgestone Europe is subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Bridgestone Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 140,000 people around the world, operate 178 plants in 25 nations, and sell products in more than 150 countries.

Challenges and Objectives

In 2013, Bridgestone Europe decided to initiate a project to replace the current Salesforce Automation system. The system did not meet the expected future CRM needs, so Bridgestone began looking for a replacement system. In the first stage, the new system would need to cover its Salesforce Automation requirements and would later need to support future CRM needs required by the internal IT strategy. The decision to choose the Microsoft CRM platform was made in 2014.

The main goals of the “SalesBridge” project were to:

Improve the quality of operations;

Increase sales efficiency; and

Enhance collaboration within and across teams.

The project focused on the newly-developed sales process which had been harmonized across the European regions and included processes surrounding the Planning, Pre-Visit, Visit, and After-Visit stages. Supporting features such as workflow management, activity management, and reporting were also considered vital for the success of this project.

CTG’s Solution

CTG implemented the new sales process and provided significant process customization to link to the extensive Bridgestone product structure requirements. Offline Salesforce capability requirements were met by adding the Resco Mobile CRM app. Working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online meant placing the first business critical application in the cloud. Integration with its on-site installed back-end ERP applications was accomplished using the CTG Azure framework. CTG’s certified project management approach included formal project and quality management, combined with task and deliverable-based project planning and execution. The MAP application, written by CTG, provided Bridgestone with the ability to easily optimize its schedule of upcoming visits. The roll-out included some 800 users in more than 30 countries.

Results

The Bridgestone sales representatives now have a clear view of their clients across the various product groups. The CRM dashboards enable a quick view of individual sales representative portfolios, targets, etc., in one view. Further, the mobile interface means that there is no longer a need to return to the office for administrative work, it can be completed from any location.